BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9981 zooms in from RIM

Hold on to your hats RIM-fans, the Canadian phone giant has announced a brand spanking new phone that it has designed in partnership with Porsche Design - the P'9981.

With an apostrophe as puzzling as Samuel Eto'o's and (probably) a price-tag that will match the Russian-fuelled wages of the Cameroon frontman, the Porsche Design P'9981 packs a stainless steel frame and a hand-wrapped leather back.

But we know you Pocket-linters are more substance than style so you'll also be pleased to hear that it comes packing a Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM 8655 1.2GHz processor, 768MB of RAM and runs BlackBerry 7.

The screen is a 2.8-inch touchscreen one, with a 640x480 resolution (287dpi) and there's NFC capabilities too, to go alongside the Wi-Fi, GPS and 3G connectivity. There's also a full QWERTY keyboard packed in too.

Storage is 8GB, expandable with microSD - and you'll need to expand too as video is shot in 720p HD from the 5-megapixel camera. It measures 115 x 67 x 11.3mm and weighs 155g.

"Since 1972 Porsche Design has presented milestone products with iconic style, and the P'9981 smartphone from BlackBerry will be our next landmark," said Dr. Juergen Gessler, CEO Porsche Design Group.

"The pure and distinctive design, coupled with authentic materials and an emphasis on the manufacturing process, perfectly match our philosophy and complement the Porsche Design product assortment."

No word on pricing or availability yet, but we hear that it is coming to the UK.